The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Edo State

  • Woman commits suicide after baby’s dedication

    A 35- year old woman identified as Ejobosele Okoruwa has committed suicide hours after dedicating her three- month old baby in a church.

    Okoruwa’s body was found dangling in her bedroom. She used her wrapper as rope to commit the act.

    The deceased residence at Ekpoma in Esan West Local Government of Edo State was filled with sympathisers who went to see the dangling body.

    Husband of the deceased, Mr. Okoruwa told journalists that he slept in the sitting room with two of his children while the wife slept in the bedroom with their eldest daughter and baby.

    Okoruwa said it was a shout from his daughter at about 2am that woke him up only to see his wife lifeless body dangling.

    He said his wife’s recent behaviour indicated that she was depressed but that it did not occur to him that she would take her life.

    “She exhibited some strange behaviours. She was moody, sometimes she will just be looking at one direction. When you call her she won’t respond and after several calls, she will respond with a shock.

    “I tried to enquire from her to know if she had any problem bothering her but she said she was okay. There was a time she told my eldest daughter to take care of the children that she would be going away.

    “I thought she was abandoning the marriage, I pleaded and she promised to stay. She equally complained of some health problems. I asked her to go for test which she did,” the husband said.

  • I suspect arson in Edo ministry inferno – Oshiomhole

    I suspect arson in Edo ministry inferno – Oshiomhole

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has said the fire that gutted a building at the state ministry of Education might not be unconnected with on-going investigation into mismanagement of teachers’ salaries especially at the primary schools level.

    The building contained archival documents, examination master list and reference materials dating back to the 1950s when Edo was part of the old Western region.

    All the materials were destroyed in the fire that started at about 5am.

    Oshiomhole said he suspected that it was part of the investigation that made some people burn down the archives at the Ministry of Education.

    He said his administration has set up an investigative panel in each of the 18 local government areas of the state to take audit schools, number of teachers in the schools, their qualifications and the total salaries and allowances paid to them.

    The governor spoke when he played host to the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).

    He said, “What we have been trying to do here is to try to find the courage to clean up the mess we inherited in Edo State and to see that we leave behind not just roads, schools, street lights and a school system that works but also institutionalised paperless government so that the level of manipulation can be minimised if not completely eradicated.

    “If there is one matter that has engaged my time and those of my lieutenants in government, it is trying to see through what is going on with regards to teachers salaries. Because the problem has been there for a very long time, those involve in it are so deeply entrenched in it,” he added.

    The state president of NULGE, Comrade Young Ilemikhene, said it was necessary to recognize and respect the local government’s operational procedures in line with the existing laws as to enable it perform its constitutionally assigned roles.

     

  • Quote of the day

    Quote of the day

    “Nigerian women and children are taken from Nigeria to other West and Central African countries, as well as to South Africa, where they are exploited for the same purposes. Children from West African countries – primarily Benin, Ghana, and Togo – are forced to work in Nigeria, and many are subjected to hazardous labour in Nigeria’s granite mines. Nigerian women and girls – primarily from Benin City in Edo State – are subjected to forced prostitution in Italy, while Nigerian women and girls from other states are subjected to forced prostitution in Spain, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Greece, and Russia”.

    The United States Department of State report on Trafficking in Persons in Nigeria. The 2013 report was released on Wednesday.

  • AAU lecturers at the mercy of kidnappers

    AAU lecturers at the mercy of kidnappers

    Lecturers and staffers of the Edo State owned university, the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma are now working and living in fear of being kidnapped. They go to work looking behind their backs not knowing whether kidnappers are lurking around. One lecturer said they are now ‘ATM cards’ for kidnappers.
    Hardly a month passes without a lecturer not being kidnapped. Not spared are their spouses who are also easy target for kidnappers.  The victims are usually snatched while returning from work or church between the hours of 6 and 7pm.
    Victims of kidnapping within the university community are increasing by the day. They include Prof. O.P.G. Nmorsi of the Department of Zoology, Prof. (Mrs) C.O. Isiramen of the Department of Religious and Cultural Management, Esohe Enoma. Those whose wives have been kidnapped a former vice chancellor of the school,Prof. J E A Osemekhian, Dr. Ken Imarenezor of the Department of Physics and Microbiology and Prof. Raymond Aluede, Dean of Faculty of Education.
     The victims it was gathered are kept in an open forest until ransoms are paid and the perpetrators are yet to be arrested. Several unions within the university are spoiling for a showdown if nothing was done to protect them their spouses.
    Apparently tired of being in the apron of kidnappers, Academic Staff of Union of Universities (ASUU), AAU-Ekpoma chapter raised an alarm that they were disturbed over the incessant kidnapping of its members.
     In a statement jointly signed by its chairman, Prof. F. I. Esumeh and secretary, Dr. S. O. Omoikhoje, AAU-ASUU said they are living in perpetual fear as the situation was already affecting academic in the institution.
    According to the statement, “Academic work cannot effectively take place in an environment where fear reigns supreme. The nefarious activities has assumed alarming proportion, since little or nothing has been done to apprehend the hoodlums.
    “We believe that the ugly trend has become a pattern and pervasive because little or nothing has been done to apprehend the hoodlums as they seem to be having a free day in their nefarious business”.
    Chairman of Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), Comrade Dako Etafia, said they have resolved to stage a continuous peaceful protest but that they are careful for hoodlums not to hijack the protest.
    He said, “It is worrisome which all concern members supposed to think of how to get out of it. The kidnapping is targeted at staff of the university. Nigerians should join us to think of a way out. Those involved are not unemployed youth. We don’t know who they are but they are in this community. The list of victims is long. Security should not be finding solutions to an incident that has already occurred. The security agents are not proactive enough. I see the management handicapped in curbing the menace. A married woman is tied in the open air in the forest. Their husbands would become emotionally unstable.”
    Chairman of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Comrade Isirame Macauley condemned the kidnapping and said they have concluded plans to protest and go on rampage over the state of insecurity.
    “The way the hoodlums are attacking and kidnapping our staff and their wives is not good. Security and awareness should be beefed up.”
    Prof. Esumeh in an interview attributed the kidnappings to an operation of a cartel because of the pattern and timing of kidnappers.
    “If something is happening on a monthly basis, it is something we have to take seriously. We are not safe. I don’t see the kind of money we earned at the university that warrant the kidnapping of our members and their wives.
    “The sad thing is that you have to part with something before they are released. Our worry is that if this thing is occurring on a monthly basis, there must be some kind of cell or informant operating within Ekpoma and the security agencies have not been able to curtail or arrest anyone. We need more from the security agencies.”
    The ASUU chairman said they would be forced to stop working if the spate of insecurity continues.
    “We are hoping the trend does not continue. We could discuss this thing at the national level and if our members are not safe, they shouldn’t be working. The NBA boycotted the court. I don’t know why lecturers are now targeted. Most of them have said they were kept in the bush. You can imagine somebody kept in the forest.”
    Public Relations Officer of the institution, Chris Adamaigbo said the management could only guaranteed maximum security within the campus and not outside.
     “We are praying that God intervene. We are working with security agencies to curb it in the bud. We are praying that God intervenes. By the time something is becoming incessant, we pray that it did not get to the level of lecturers fearing to come to classes. We are not aware if ransom is being paid. I am not aware of any arrest made so far.” He said.
  • DPO kills, buries UNIBEN student

    DPO kills, buries UNIBEN student

    Vehicular movement was yesterday paralyzed in parts of Benin City, the Edo State Capital, as Students mainly from the University of Benin, staged a protest over the alleged shooting to death of a 500 level, 22 year Old student, Momodu Ibrahim, of the Faculty Laboratory Science.

    The students dressed in black attire marched through the streets of Benin calling for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Divisional Police Officer, Carol Afegbua in charged of Ogida Police station over her alleged complicity in the murder of Momodu.

    Late Momodu who was the only male child of his parents was said to have been shot a stone throw from his family house located at No 1, Igbobawaye Street off Siluko road by Textile mill junction.

    Addressing newsmen at the Nigeria Union of Journalists,( NUJ), secretariat, the immediate sister of the deceased, Ebohon Rebecca Egbe while calling for Justice gave an account of how the life of his brother was cut shot by the bullet of the Divisional Police Officer in-charge of Ogida.

    “ I was in my office in Port- Harcourt when I received a call from Benin from a cousin of mine who is a Police officer that I should take heart that we lost Ibrahim my younger brother. I called my mother and she said they have been looking for him in last two days, normally it is after 48 hours that you report such thing to the Police.

    So, She went to the Police on Wednesday, 29th May 2013, only to be told that he has been killed by Carol Afegbua, the DPO of Ogida Police station and was buried the next day without the family knowing. His cell-phone which was with the Police rang all through as we are trying to locate his whereabouts until the Police finally picked the call and asked my mother to come to the police station. When the DPO was confronted and asked why his men shot my brother she explained they didn’t know his identity because his men asked him to stop and he refused. she also alleged that he was carrying a gun and wanted to shoot at his men on patrol before his men shoot at him in self defense”

    The family according to the sister of the slain student was informed that the body of late Momodu had been buried at a public Cemetery in Egor local Government Area of the State.

    Several calls by our correspondent to the Commissioner of Police, Folusho Adebanjo, and the Police Public Relation officer, ASP Charles Eguavoen, were unanswered at the time of filing this report

  • Over 400 convicted for environmental laws in Edo

    OVER 400 persons were yesterday convicted in Edo State for violating the environmental sanitation law.

    The Head of Legal Department, Environmental Protection and Regulatory Agency, Barrister Pius Oiwoh, told reporters at one of the mobile courts the convicts were arrested at different location across the state.

    He said over 800 persons were arrested while more than 450 of them have been sentenced to 14-day imprisonment with an option of N5,000 as at the time of speaking with the media.

    Oiwoh added that ten persons were set free while about 400 were still waiting to be tried by the chief magistrate, A.A. Ihenyen.

    The chief state counsel, Mrs. Stella Okojie, told journalists any convict unable to pay the option fine will spend compulsory 14 days in Oko prison.

    She, however, appealed to the people of the state to always comply with the environmental law, which is just three hours on the stipulated date.

    Some of the people arrested for the environmental offences are staff of Kingstone Bank at Akpakpava Road, operators of private motor parks and owners of super markets.

    Edo State environmental sanitation is observed every last Saturday of the month.

  • UTME Candidates protest seizure of JAMB scores

    UTME Candidates protest seizure of JAMB scores

    About 1, 000 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidates who wrote this year’s Joint Admissions And Matriculation
    Board (JAMB) examinations in centres across Edo state on Tuesday asked the JAMB to release their results.

    The candidates who marched through the major streets of Benin City, and the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists; (NUJ), Benin
    City said the centres where they wrote the UTME  had no biometric machines so seizing results on account of their not being captured by
    the machines was an attempt to deny them admissions.

    The angry candidates who carried different placards with inscriptions which read, “Out of 1.7million candidates: where are the spaces in the
    Universities”, JAMB do not frustrate us”, “JAMB release our results”, amongst others said they have other plans if JAMB does not take heed.

    Anthony Ozabor who was a UTME candidate in St Maria Goretti College in Benin City where he said JAMB had two centres said that they have been
    checking their results online only to find that they have none, arguing that the excuse by JAMB is that the machines showed that they were absent.

    “How can hundreds of thousands of candidates be absent for such a widely publicized examination that they have been preparing for since
    last year. The problem is that JAMB did not send the machines and they did that to ensure that they collected money from as candidates as
    possible only to deny them results after”.

    He added, “Today we have been to the Benin JAMB office and they used the Nigerian Police to drive us away; they  said we should go to headquarters of JAMB in Abuja”.

    However, an official at the Benin JAMB office denied knowledge of the candidates protest adding that results for those who actually wrote
    the UTME were available online for those interested to cross-check and take action.

  • QUOTE OF THE DAY

    QUOTE OF THE DAY

    QUOTE OF THE DAY

    For every one person I have offended, there are 10 others that are happy. Workers should be interested in the overall security of the people and the state. I hate lazy people. I have deep seated hatred for loafers. Should we promote people who are sleeping? We are wage earners and not wage takers. I am not a cheap politicians, I want to be a leader. Those who work, we will promote them, those who do not work will be sacked.

    Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole at May Day celebration in Benin

  • Edo warns pipeline vandals

    Edo State government has called for collaboration with the management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Benin depot in curbing incidences of pipeline vandalism, even as it threatened to deal with any person caught vandalising oil installations in the state.

    The Executive Director of the state Petroleum and Gas Monitoring Committee, Chris Okaeben spoke when he paid a familiarisation visit to the NNPC-Benin depot.

    Okaeben urged pipeline vandals to relocate from the state or face dire consequences.

    He told the depot manager, Engineer Patrick Akinoloyan that his mandate was to ensure that any act of economic sabotage on oil installations was eliminated.

    Okaeben said it was Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s desire that people of the state do not go through pains of sleeping in fuel stations to get the necessary product.

    Engineer Akinnoloyan expressed his desire to cooperate with the state government, adding that the depot was ready to provide the required petroleum quantity for the people in the state.

  • Edo probes N50m electrification fund

    Edo State lawmakers have begun a probe into an abandoned N50m electrification project for Akoko-Edo Local Government Area.

    The probe followed a petition sent to the House by residents of the several communities under the auspices of Ikiran Oke, Ayanran, Ikakumo Electricity Completion Committee.

    In the petition signed by the chairman and secretary of the committee, Chief John Alaba Obasoro and Hon. Oyewole Samuel, respectively, the communities said the project was awarded during the Obasanjo administration and that the National Assembly approved the project sum in the 2012 fiscal budget.

    They alleged that only scanty numbers of electricity poles were dumped at the site and accused the Power Holding Company, Benin Zone, of diverting the funds to finance other projects in neigbouring states.

    But the Benin Zone PHCN Executive Director, Effion Umoren, who appeared before the House Committee on Energy and Water Resources said the project in question was handed over to him as a new project and not an on-going one.

    Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Water Resources, Hon Michael Ohio-Ezomo directed Umoren, an engineer, to provide relevant documents on the said contract.

    He said the lawmaker would visit the site to assess the level of work done.

    Hon Peter Akpatason representing Akoko Edo Federal Constituency faulted claims of the PHCN authority that they completed the electrification of the 25 kilometers Unemen-Igarra Road and urged the lawmakers to tour all the projects in the communities.